This company has developed a unique combination that can bring an added value to the final product. Art has been united with the production and transformation of raw materials. The final product will be even more successful since Francesco Vastola plays both roles. He has invented Maida, a business label that has set an example in the field of processing vegetables in oil, as it has done traditionally for over twenty years.
In fact, Francesco, even after attending an artistic high school, had chosen for personal reasons, to follow his family history which has always dedicated themselves to agriculture. It was his father Antonio Vastola, with his wife Maria, who had moved to the plain of Paestum dall’Agro – Nocerino – Sarnese. They started planting at the foot of Mount Sottano, a farm that is now in the hands of Francesco, and his family: Annamaria, his wife, and Fabrizio, his son. Francesco has two other children. Mariantonia, who lives in Reggio Emilia, and Martina, who is still attending high school, Liceo Scentifico.
The new young farmer Francesco, also known as an artist, has brought to the farm the idea of intertwining art with the colours of the vegetables. He has also influenced other businessmen working with him to “impose” these ideas while focusing on its packaging and marketing strategies. Francesco has also set out as a farmer looking for customers who can understand the idea of spreading quality in their businesses. He has taken on many journeys traveling throughout Italy, Europe and other parts of the world.
The first one to trust the Maida project and give credit to Francesco was the restaurant “Don Alfonso” in Sant’Agata on the gulf. While, recently, a project, “Da zero,” (from zero kilometres) has begun with a group of people that have opened up quality pizzerias in Milan, Turin and Matera. This project started in the Vallo della Lucania.
Today there are an infinite number of restaurants, located all over, that use the Maida label, combining all of the colours of the garden when preparing their meals. The Maida company is located within in the National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni. The company started in 1996, and since then it has been connected to the formation of the largest protected area in Europe.
It is know for the variety of its products, 90% that make up the “polychromatic” basket of Maida, which come from the same farm that lays over 12 hectares of land. This way the guaranteed product also has a “limit.” Its production can not exceed in numbers which would affect the concept of the original idea of Francesco: to produce, work and preserve with a completely artisan method.
The family unit consisting of his wife, and his son Fabrizio has set the foundation for a farm that has become the main element of the Maida business. This means that there is not one stage of production that does not include a member of the family. They are always in the front line, deciding which land the seeds should be planted on, which steps should be taken while growing, and finally they decide when to harvest and get everything ready. There are then ten employees (including seasonal workers) who work and package the products until they are shipped and distributed to the final consumers.
The main product of the Maida business are its “Artichokes” jared and preserved in olive oil. There are over 50 types of vegetables and legumes like tomatoes and pumpkin preserved in extra virgin olive oil and packaged in an original packaging. Francesco Vastola has influenced it with his idea of combining the colours of vegetables that represent “the garden.”
Half of the company’s primary markets are located in Italy and the other half abroad. The regions of Lombardy, Triveneto and Campania are the Italian places where the Maida business sells the most. The foreign nations where the company is well-established and ready to put down solid roots are in France, Canada, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
In 2018, the turnover closed at about 500,000.00 Euro, which was divided: 45% for the acquisition of the raw material, 45% covering the workload and 10% was left for profit even if most of the profit has been reinvested into the family business.
When asked what the uniqueness of the Maida products is, Francesco replied that it is the art of preserving which he had learned from his grandmother Antonia: to cultivate, transform and consume! The company’s mission is not only to sell vegetables but also to represent their history. It is a part of the Cilento lifestyle along with the Mediterranean Diet, which has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of Humanity. There has also been an American scholar, Angel Kees, who had already discovered and validated many of the personal benefits of the Cilento region. Taking these into consideration, she has moved to Pioppi, a small fishing village on the Cilento coast.
Francesco Vastola, as a student had inside of him the soul of an artist. However at the time he could not pursue the career of an artist, so he managed to use his creativity in the art of preserving vegetables in oil. He has always applied himself in sculpture, where he is continually combining his manual skills with the feelings that push him to approach the colours that the “iridescent” nature placed before his eyes in every changing season.